Houston

Since the story begins with Houston's murder, we know him only through what Cotton thinks and other characters say about him. According to that evidence, he is "as well-fixed as ere a man in the county," a "bachelor" who owned his own farm and "made a good crop every year" (156). While they call him "a secret man," the men who discuss him at Varner's store cannot imagine why he would have chosen to disappear from the area (157). Ernest Cotton thinks of him as an "overbearing man"; while he is obviously extremely prejudiced against Houston, the Sheriff uses that same adjective to describe Houston (157). Houston has earned both the hatred of his neighbor Cotton and the undying loyalty of his hound. (His first name is not given in the story; elsewhere he is named "Jack" or "Zack.")